Mayor apologizes for Arkansas city's dog fiasco

Helena-West Helena Mayor James Valley has issued an official apology to various people in the community concerning his decision to abandon 10 stray dogs from city custody June 10.

Michele Page

Helena-West Helena Mayor James Valley has issued an official apology to various people in the community concerning his decision to abandon 10 stray dogs from city custody June 10.

“Let me begin by apologizing to the good wholesome reasonable and sound-minded people of this community who have been dragged into this mess about our animal shelter. I am sincerely sorry that a decision made by me, in the run of the hundreds of decisions I make every day, has brought the wrath of the animal loving world to your front door. Please accept my sincere apology to my friends and neighbors for that. I am sorry,” Valley stated in a news release.

Valley further said that the negative attention the matter garnered by the newly consolidated city was a distraction about the strides made since consolidation.

“This saga has lasted too long and is a distraction to the good work that has been and is being done in Helena-West Helena, Ark. We are a community that has made a major turnaround. We are resilient people. We consolidated two cities about two and one-half years ago and that effort has been marvelous. Few places around the globe can claim to have accomplished such a feat. We have gone from perhaps dim aspirations and dark days to glimmering hopes and glowing dreams,” Valley said.

He listed some of the movements happening in the area to see a better Helena-West Helena in his letter.

“However, on our animal control issue, we have a failure to communicate. I accept responsibility for that. Our modest shelter was closed, UNLAWFULLY and without proper cause, by a renegade humane society from the southeastern portion of our state,” said Valley, turning his apology letter in another direction.

“It’s a total fabrication, a total fabrication, a total fabrication,” said Ruby Burton, director of the Humane Society of Southeastern Arkansas.

Burton denied her organization instructed the city to erect temporary dog shelters at the street and sanitation department that led to the deplorable conditions and subsequent release of 10 dogs into the wilderness.

“The Humane Society never instructed (Valley) to put the pens on the sanitation department parking lot. On Jan. 9 or 10, we went to the city pound because of complaints about the animals,” said Burton.

Valley contends that he broke no laws when he released the dogs in the St. Francis National Forest.

“I have broken no law. I was faced with two bad choices – the choice of evils. Let the dogs go or kill the dogs. I am an animal lover myself. I am no murderer. The bad dogs were killed by the vet. The other dogs were released. The released dogs were neither sick nor harmful,” stated Valley.

“Robert Frost, author of ‘The Road Not Taken,’ might have handled this decision better than I did. Sometimes, choosing the road ‘less traveled by’ makes all the difference in ways unexpected. I wish I had said nothing about the St. Francis National Forest. That is what has really caused a fuss. The dogs were set free on Storm Creek Road near the St. Francis National Forest,” continued Valley.

Valley said that if 10 other families donated $1,000 by Nov. 15, he and his wife would do the same.

He also promised 50 hours of his time each year to the animal shelter.

“It’s a new day for animal control in Phillips County, Arkansas; a new day in the 'Delta.' It is our hope, belief and aspiration that you will step up and lend a helping hand in this effort,” concluded Valley.

For information on the shelter donation effort, call city hall at 870-572-3421.

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